Observations reveal the angle dependence of the magnetic field needed to suppress superconductivity in CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$. Uniquely, the behavior of “odd parity” superconductors is revealed.

A new way to connect the macroscopic description of ferroelectrics to their atomistics boosts the predictive power of macroscopic theories based on polarization and strain.

A demonstration of a new way to transfer energy between coupled modes in a nanoscale resonator presents novel opportunities for information applications that go beyond the standard binary representation.

Two studies improve the status of artificial atoms—called quantum dots—as qubit candidates for quantum technologies.

Tracking of bird movements shows that the animals don’t spread outward like molecules in a gas, as ecologists often assume.

A novel class of self-organizing structures—molecular motors that accumulate on the ends of stiff filaments and form evolving shapes—add a new tool for the study of active matter.

A new theorem demonstrates a deep connection between quantum entanglement and discrete translation symmetry, a link with far-reaching applicability given that this type of symmetry is ubiquitous.

Experiments show that the mechanism of light-induced superconductivity in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6+x}$ bilayer cuprates involves amplification of superconducting fluctuations, which is observed throughout the pseudogap phase.

Numerical simulations reveal several routes to realizing topological superconductivity—prized for its potential quantum computing applications—that involve doping weak magnetic Mott insulators and chiral spin liquids.

A machine-learning algorithm that includes a quantum circuit generates realistic handwritten digits and performs better than its classical counterpart.

A new general theoretical framework for entropy production helps demonstrate, in simulations, the production of entropy in collisionless plasmas, whose entropy evolution has long been an outstanding problem.

A theoretical analysis reveals how monopoles in quantum spin liquids behave at quantum phase transitions and supports a duality that connects unrelated transitions.

A new mechanism for quantum teleportation leverages the thermalizing dynamics of complex quantum systems and points the way to a powerful experimental tool for characterizing these dynamics.

A new method for cooling a collection of spins reveals their state to within one spin flip and could be used to create exciting new quantum states.

An experiment that realizes hallmarks of both weak- and strong-coupling between electrons at the same time offers a novel platform for exploring the rich physics connecting these two limits of quantum materials.

The rate of growth of entanglement in a quantum many-body system that is out of equilibrium can unexpectedly be interpreted as an equilibrium quantity.

A new method for weakly monitoring a quantum state uses a neural network to learn and adapt to detector effects that typically prevent measurements of rapidly changing states.

Experiments reveal for the first time how a laser illuminating a cloud of ultracold atoms triggers an effective force between the atoms, offering a new way to trap and control ultracold atoms.

A demonstration of fine control over the valley isospin in bilayer graphene leads to evidence of an unusual type of fractional quantum Hall effect and uncovers properties of its many-body wave function.

When charges are added to correlated insulators in twisted bilayer graphene, spin and pseudospin textures called skyrmions can appear and even pair up to create an exotic superconductor.

Experiments on shearing a layer of plastic disks reveal the emergence of a novel type of disordered solid state, offering new insight into the stability of granular materials.

Theoretical work establishes a connection for the many-electron quantum states of metals between topology and entanglement, two powerful principles for characterizing complex quantum states.

In elemental antimony at cryogenic temperatures, experiments show that electron-electron collisions dominate the degradation of charge and heat flow thanks in part to a tight phonon-electron coupling.

Scientists may have answered a longstanding question in biophysics: how the brain learns to recognize features in images before a newborn even opens its eyes.

A novel method reconstructs the entropy production in systems whose evolution can be described as hopping among discrete states even if only a few transitions are observed.

Experiments reveal a particularly slow relaxation timescale when a mixture of heavy and light particles is brought out of equilibrium.

Observations of pressure-driven motion of cells reveal a novel type of cell migration and cooperation between cellular- and tissue-level forces that may point to unexplored modes of cancer cell movement and early organism development.

The spin state of molecular qubits can be made more stable by changing the chemical environment in which the qubits sit.

Cosmological constraints can be improved by applying machine learning to a combination of data from two leading probes of the large-scale structure of the Universe.

A new theory of ligand-receptor bonds in biological cells that accounts for membrane fluctuations reveals an orders-of-magnitude increase in binding rates and the range over which a receptor can recognize its ligand.

In quantum mechanics, the observer necessarily plays an active role in the dynamics of the system, making it difficult to probe a system without disturbing it. Here, we show that this apparent difficulty may be turned into a tool for driving an initially trivial system into a desired quantum many-body state simply by observing it.

X-ray spectromicroscopy provides a direct measurement of the spin accumulation due to the spin Hall effect in the surface of a copper-bismuth alloy electrode.

A new optical device measures photon indistinguishability—an important property for future light-based quantum computers.

A reformulation of the second law of thermodynamics describes the unusual behavior of cyclic heat engines in contact with an active bath and explains how they operate in regimes not accessible to passive heat engines.

Like a surfer riding a wave, a single electron is transported by an acoustic pulse traveling along the surface of a microchip.

Two superconducting qubits coupled to an array of resonators are dressed by two photonic clouds that mediate their interaction and create two atom-photon bound states, an architecture that could be used for quantum simulation of spin models.

A proposal for stabilizing time-crystalline states of matter avoids hard-to-control features required by current experimental methods, introducing a new idea in the effort to stabilize nonequilibrium phases in general.

A new, compact laser-driven particle accelerator achieves electron energies of 5 GeV in just 20 cm—about 40% of the acceleration possible at the kilometer-long Linac Coherent Light Source.

An analysis of a common theoretical model of antiferromagnetic interactions reveals the deep relationship between two pillars of condensed-matter physics: quantum spin liquids and deconfined quantum critical points.

A bacterial genome’s evolution under changing drug concentrations displays effects of memory formation and mimics how disordered solids respond to external forces.

Experiments demonstrate that biological cells actively change shape to respond to their surroundings when moving in confined regions.

Magnetic phases are traditionally ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic. An analysis of spin symmetries reveals a third phase, dubbed altermagnetism, that opens new fronts in magnetism and spintronics research.

A new method that uses laser light to both generate and shape electron beams could improve the resolution of electron microscopy.

A new theory for how neural networks detect phase transitions from data reveals that popular methods rely on detecting changes in probability distributions rather than recognizing prevalent patterns.

A new implementation of a specialized quantum device known as a Gaussian boson sampling machine outperforms a classical algorithm at finding dense subgraphs of a graph.